In the Bleak Midwinter

Merry Christmas!

Recommended: A 2024 book about the dark side of the winter holidays, THE DEAD OF WINTER, by Sarah Clegg, subtitled "Beware of Krampus and Other Wicked Christmas Creatures." It's an entertainingly readable blend of historical and folkloric scholarship with a casual, conversational tone.

Once upon a time, Saint Nicholas devoted much more attention than nowadays to chastising the naughty children as well as rewarding the nice. Rather early in his history, though, he acquired minions to take over the harsher aspects of his gift-giving role. Other scary creatures lurk in the cold months of the northern hemisphere, too.

The chapters begin with anecdotes about the author's personal visits to locations associated with the creatures and customs surveyed in the respective chapters. She continues with a detailed examination of the history and significance of each topic. Her wry, often funny footnotes remind me somewhat of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. Maybe it's a British thing? The book includes an index, endnotes, and a selected bibliography for each chapter.

The introduction, "The Year Walk," narrates the author's visit to a graveyard on Christmas Eve to enact a ritual for glimpsing shadows of the future. Chapter One, Lords of Misrule: How the chaotic, transgressive revelry of Carnival migrated to the Twelve Days of Christmas. Chapter Two, Monstrous Visitors: Mummers' plays and house-to-house "guising" as fearsome monsters begging for drinks and other treats. Chapter Three, Horse Skulls and Hoodenings: Wassailing and the Welsh Mari Lwyd (yes, a person wearing or carrying a horse's skull) and related creatures. Chapter Four, Punishing the Wicked: Krampus and his child-snatching, often cannibalistic kin. Chapter Five, The Christmas Witches: Befana and less benign female prowlers of winter nights, including, surprisingly, a dark side of Saint Lucy. Chapter Six, Old Gods: The solstice rituals at Stonehenge, leading into a discussion of efforts, often mistaken, to trace surviving seasonal beliefs and customs back to ancient pagan deities and rites, by scholars such as the Grimm brothers and James Frazer (author of THE GOLDEN BOUGH). The epilogue explores possible reasons for the Victorian pleasure in ghost stories at Yuletide and the "modern embrace of the darker side of Christmas."

Also, for related entertainment, take a look at this Extra Mythology video (part of the Extra Credits series) compiling all their previous animated short podcasts on Christmas creatures, including Krampus and several others, plus a discussion of Dickens's A CHRISTMAS CAROL:

Extra Mythology Christmas Stories

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.